SINGAPORE - Singapore Technologies Engineering’s (ST Engineering) urban solutions unit has secured more than $175 million in contracts from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to upgrade technologies for the authority’s fleet management system, fare collection, and power and communications systems.

The group on May 2 said this will “modernise” Singapore’s public bus fleet and operations.

The infrastructure upgrading exercise will be implemented progressively from the second quarter of 2024 and completed by 2027. It will cover about 5,800 public buses.

ST Engineering said it sees the exercise as “integral to improving operational efficiencies for LTA and public transport operators, translating into improved service and travel experiences for bus commuters”.

Technology upgrades will include a new bus fleet management system, which will operate on a cloud-based architecture and be integrated with electric bus and charging infrastructure capabilities.

New fare collection equipment on board the buses will run on a 5G network, and feature a single unified display that combines both fare collection and fleet management applications.

This will replace the two separate displays currently used by bus captains.

Central junction boxes will be installed on the buses to improve power and signal distribution.

A new 5G-enabled bus transmitter system is also expected to allow faster, more reliable data exchanges between the vehicles and back-end systems.

“The technology upgrade will not only enhance system connectivity and functionality that benefits commuters and the transport ecosystem, but will also pave the way for future innovations in commuter travel,” said Mr Chew Men Leong, president of urban solutions at ST Engineering. THE BUSINESS TIMES